Suspect Shot By Police After Threatening Officers With A Knife Told Witnesses He was “going to kill some cops”
Suspect Shot By Police After Threatening Officers With A Knife Told Witnesses He Was “Going To Kill Some Cops.”“
Those were the words of the armed suspect who would, minutes later, try to ambush an EPD officer who responded to a 911 call at the TGIF’s restaurant at the Eastland Mall.
According to witnesses in the restaurant, 38 year old DANIEL WOOTERS was acting aggressively and made comments about killing people. WOOTERS behavior and his threatening comments prompted the call to 911 and led to a series of events that ended with WOOTERS being shot by police.
According to multiple witnesses at TGIF’s, WOOTERS made comments that he was going to kill someone and, more specifically, that he was going to kill some cops. He left the restaurant and walked to a nearby bank parking lot. Once on the lot, he approached an unoccupied car and began looking into it. The owner of the car was on the lot and told him to get away from his car. At that time, the uniformed officer pulled onto the bank lot in a fully marked police car. The witness said WOOTERS pulled out a knife as the officer arrived and he saw him confront the officer while armed with the knife. As the officer backed away from WOOTERS, he got into the police car and drove away.
Additional officers who had responded to the area for the initial 911 call spotted the marked car as WOOTERS was driving on the mall parking lot. They attempted to pull WOOTERS over, but he fled. The chase ended in the 3300 block of E Morgan when WOOTERS lost control of the car.
WOOTERS exited the car while holding the knife in his hand. He advanced towards the officers while still armed with the knife. Three officers discharged their weapons. The suspect was shot and dropped to the ground. Several officers rendered first aid, including CPR, as medical personnel responded to the scene. The suspect was pronounced deceased at a local hospital a short time later.
The investigation is on-going. Anyone who witnessed any of the events that began at TGIF’s around 8:20pm is asked to call EPD at 812-436-7979. Several cell phone videos have been posted on social media sites. Anyone with video of any portion of the events is also asked to call EPD.
In addition to the investigation that began with the call to TGIF’s, police are investigating a “suspicious circumstances†call to the Chili’s restaurant in front of Eastland Mall earlier in the evening. That call was received at 6:41pm. Officers were called to the restaurant when a man came in and asked if he could leave his duffle bag on one side of the restaurant while he ate on the other side. An employee thought the man’s behavior was suspicious and they called 911. The man left while the employee was on the phone with a 911 operator. Responding officers were unable to locate him at that time. Police are looking into the possibility that WOOTERS was also involved the Chili’s 911 call.
No officers were injured during this incident.The three officers who discharged their weapons are on 3 days paid administrative leave, per EPD policy.
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Summary of Education Losses at End of 2016 Session
Position Paper: Summary of Education Losses at End of 2016 Session
By Ann Ennis, Republican Candidate for State Rep. District 64
The Legislative Agenda published by the Indiana House Republicans in January 2016 stated they will “Support Educators and Students; Goal: Attract and Retain the Best Teachers and Streamline Testing.â€
During this last two weeks of session, representatives and senators in the General Assembly went to worrisome lengths to push through a bill that expands taxpayer vouchers to experimental start-up schools, and further isolates and frustrates teachers. This was a rapid, re-named and covert 180-degree turn from its January Agenda.
As a Republican who supports local control, fiscal responsibility and open admission to K-12 education for all, I was dumbstruck.
Senate Bill 334, a voucher expansion bill originated with a plea by a charter school to allow mid-year voucher access for dropouts. A noble reason. But as the bill evolved, the high school drop-out directive disappeared. SB334 became a general expansion of vouchers for primarily middle income families who wish to transfer mid-year. Year-round voucher access creates headaches for private and parochial schools, as well as takes money from public schools. Our parochial schools do not have staff to manage the accounting required for reporting on flexed year-round vouchers. They will probably wind up paying more money to voucher administration corporations: that it not helping education. According to ICPE, the money in play is estimated to be $2.1 million. The voucher administrating corporations may get a large cut of that.
When SB334 became threatened by voter outcry and fiscal conservatives throughout the state, leadership rolled it quietly (over a weekend) into HB 1005.
HB 1005 passed. Teachers are angry about the way extra-curricular stipend pay will be allotted in the core of this bill. But now, also, vouchers are expanded at the request of experimental start-up schools, with the hidden SB334.
Going into an election it is unwise to look anti-teacher, but HB 1005, with SB 334 inside it, are anti-teacher.
The current representation of Republicans in Senate and House has stepped into every K-12 classroom from Reitz to St. Wendel, from Princeton to Joshua Academy to the point that master teachers and new teachers are resigning in droves. Few college students are lining up to replace them. HB 1005 does not help.
The ISTEP crisis and the transition to tougher standards deserved the full attention of our General Assembly in 2016. But instead of following its own Legislative Agenda, the incumbents waged and won another covert battle to expand vouchers benefiting voucher administration corporations, and at the cost of teacher and student morale.
Now watch as more tax money goes to fund year-round advertising and marketing by voucher administrators and with it by our public schools. Why? Because Indianapolis has created an unending tug of war among schools to find the best students – and in doing so we are leaving the most in need and disabled along the wayside.
FOOTNOTE: Â this letter was posted without opinion, bias or editing.
FOOTNOTES: Our next “IS IT TRUE” will be posted on this coming Friday?
Please take time and read our newest feature article entitled “HOT JOBS“posted in this section are from Evansville proper.
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Eagles Open Spring Season at The Buc
GERMANTOWN, TN – The University of Southern Indiana men’s golf team finished in fourth place at the Buccaneer Spring Classic hosted by Christian Brothers University in Germantown, Tennessee at the Germantown Country Club. The event was the first of the spring season for USI.
The Screaming Eagles recorded a two-round total of 620 (314-306), 45 strokes off the pace set by Arkansas-Monticello who won the event with a 602. The Screaming Eagles also finished behind Freed-Hardiman University and host Christian Brothers University who finished the Classic with scores of 607 and 618.
The Eagles were led by a pair of golfers finishing tied for 12th. Preston Van Winkle<http://gousieagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2449> (Santa Claus, Indiana) shot an 80 in round one and a 75 on the second day while Trevor Grant<http://gousieagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=2445> (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) bounced back from an 82 on Monday to shoot the low round of the second day with a 72. Van Winkle and Grant both finished with totals of 155 (+11).
USI will return to the course this weekend traveling to Springfield, Illinois to participate in the University of Illinois Springfield Spring Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. The Invite will take place at Panther Creek Golf Course.
2015-16 University of Southern Indiana Men’s Golf
3/14/2016 — Buccaneer Spring Classic
3/14/2016 — Buccaneer Spring Classic
Germantown Country Club — Germantown, TN
Par 72, 6882 yards — 5 teams, 32 players
University of Southern Indiana          314     306       620      +44    4th
Grant, Trevor   82      73        155      +11    t-12th
Van Winkle, Preston     80      75        155      +11    t-12th
Saylor, Grant   77      79        156      +12    t-15th
Tanriverdi, Kyle        78      80        158      +14    t-18th
Wade, Alex      79      79        158      +14    t-18th
# Indicates individual player
Aces fall in extras to the Hoosiers at Braun Stadium
 Another comeback appeared to be in the cards for the University of Evansville baseball team on Tuesday night, but the visiting Indiana Hoosiers were able to stifle the Aces’ attempted rallies as UE fell 7-6 in 10 innings at Braun Stadium.
After tying the game up in the bottom of the eighth, UE (8-8) would put the winning run in scoring position in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Hoosier reliever Jake Kelzer proved able to fight off every threat from the Aces.
“We have to do a better job with runners in scoring position late in the game,†UE head coach Wes Carroll said. “We created opportunities for ourselves tonight, and we just weren’t able to capitalize on it. That’s something that we have to work on heading into tomorrow and then this weekend.â€
Things started off well enough for the Hoosiers (6-8), who cashed in a score in the opening frame off UE starter Alex Weigand. Craig Dedelow reached base when he hit a single off the chest of Weigand before moving over to second on a wild pitch, and Luke Miller followed up in the ensuing at-bat with a single up the middle to plate the opening tally. From there, Weigand would settle down for a bit, holding IU to just four hits over the next five innings.
In the meantime, the UE offense would get rolling, beginning with a Nate Reeder double and Trey Hair single in the third to tie things up. In the fourth, Jonathan Ramon sent a towering home run to center to give UE a 3-1 lead, and a two-out bases-loaded single from Hair brought in two more to send the Aces into the fifth with a 5-1 advantage.
Hair led all hitters on the day, going 4-for-5 with three runs batted in, and Eric McKibban also reached base four times, finishing 3-for-4 with a walk and a pair of scores.
However, things would unravel for the Aces in the seventh as the Hoosiers were able to get to Weigand. The freshman southpaw started off the frame with a couple walks, and it’d go downhill from there as he’d surrender four of five IU runs in the frame before UE reliever Brent Jurceka induced a pair of groundballs and a strikeout to get out of the frame.
Weigand ended the day with a no-decision, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits. Jurceka gave up one run on a pair of hits.
Ramon would once again play a role in the Aces comeback in the eighth as he followed up a McKibban lead-off single with a triple to center, but UE was unable to bring him home to surge back ahead.
Ramon, a senior out of Jackson Heights, N.Y., was 2-for-5 on the day with three RBI.
Miller would lead off the 10th with a double off Ryan Brady, and Scott Bradley brought him home later in the frame to hand the Hoosiers their third lead of the game. This time, the visitors would hold on as Kelzer stranded McKibban at second base in the bottom half to pick up his first win of the season.
Brady fell to 0-1 on the mound.
The Aces will be back in action on Wednesday as they set out for SIUE. First pitch from Simmons Baseball Complex is scheduled for 6 p.m.
NOTES: Eric McKibban is riding a 16-game on-base streak … Jonathan Ramon, who hit just eight home runs in his first three seasons wearing a UE uniform, has left the park four times in the first 16 games of the season … Overall, UE has homered 14 times this year … Tuesday was the first home loss of the season for the Aces … Since 1978, the Aces are 16-18 against Indiana and 274-205 vs. schools that hail from the state of Indiana … UE is 16-6 against SIUE … Against Illinois schools, UE owns a 220-196 record, including a 3-0 mark this year after the NIU sweep.
Exciting Lunch with the Aces event set for April 15
Event to be held on campus for the first timeÂ
A new and exciting format will be in place for the annual “Lunch with the Aces†event, which is set for Friday, April 15.
For the first time, the event will be held on campus and will feature a full program. Running from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., the Maikranz Gym in the Carson Center will hold the lunch. It will also feature a full program with keynote speaker Colt Ryan. Ryan, one of the top players in Purple Aces men’s basketball history, graduated in 2013 as the leading scorer in University of Evansville history.
Attendees will be able to eat lunch at any point from 11-1 with the program beginning at 12:30 p.m. This allows people who are on a strict lunch period to come and go as they need.
The cost of the lunch is $25 for those who register before April 11. Tickets will also be available at the door for $30. Marx Barbecue is catering the event and will serve a whole roasted pig. UE student-athletes will be sitting at each table while coaches of the Aces programs will be serving food and drinks.
Corporate tables may be purchased for $350 and contain several great benefits. It includes a full table of 8 seats, tables in the front of the room, logo in the program and on the video screen as well as mentions by the emcee.
Another great part of the day is that those who attend can purchase baseball tickets for the 6 p.m. game versus Bradley that night for just $3. Tickets normally cost $7 for home baseball games.
For more information, please contact Amy Davidson at 812-488-2338 or ad204@evansville.edu. Those who would like to attend can register here: www.uealumnionline.com/PACLunch
or by filling out the registration form and sending it back.
ILNEWS Appeals court rules Notre Dame police subject to APRA
Scott ruers for www.theindianalawyer.com
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday the University of Notre Dame Police Department is a public agency under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act and is subject to APRA requests, overturning a trial court decision in St. Joseph Superior Court.
The COA remanded the case to the lower court, ordering it find in favor of ESPN. The COA said the trial court must determine which records the police department was required to produce under APRA and produce only those records, not all of the public documents ESPN sought.
ESPN investigative reporter Paula Levigne filed a request for public incident reports in Sept. 2014, but the ND police department denied the request, saying it was not a public law agency. After two decisions by Indiana’s Public Access Counselor which said Notre Dame should produce the documents, ESPN filed a complaint in St. Joseph Superior Court. Both parties filed cross motions for judgment and on April 20, granted judgment in the police department’s favor, saying it was not a public agency. ESPN appealed.
The COA said that all of Notre Dame is not a public agency, but its police department is. It cited an Ohio Supreme Court decision that said a private entity is only considered a public agency when it performs a government function, which Notre Dame does not as a university, even though its police department does.
“Here it is clear that the police department is exercising a public function,†Judge Rudolph R. Pyle wrote for the COA. “Police power is a sovereign power. Even though the Police Department is not a governmental entity, the State has delegated its officers these (g)eneral police powers, including ‘the power to arrest, without process, all persons who commit any offense within the view of the officer (s).†Pyle cited Indiana Code 21-17-5-4 (a) in his writing.
However, how much precedence and effect the case will have is still in question since the Indiana Legislature recently passed a bill that would put into state law federal requirements of private college crime reporting, which is limited compared to other police departments.
During arguments Feb. 24, ESPN argued public policy, legislative intent and precedent in Indiana and other states favored a decision in favor of the company. Notre Dame said because it is a private institution, its records are its own and worried what the effects of a decision saying otherwise would mean not only for itself, but for other private institutions.
ESPN also challenged the trial court’s decision that its claim should be blocked by legislative acquiescence. The COA said legislative acquiescence shouldn’t exist because the public access counselors’ decisions have existed for just over a decade, which is not enough time to determine whether the legislature has acquiesced to the determination or not.
The case is ESPN, Inc. and Paula Lavigne v. University of Notre Dame Security Police Dept., a Dept. of the University of Notre Dame du Lac,71A05-1505-MI-381.